Accused Anaheim Pastor Is Nabbed

An Anaheim clergyman who fled court after learning that he could face life in prison for allegedly molesting three underage parishioners was caught in Redlands early Wednesday preparing to flee to Mexico, prosecutors said.

Raul Rosas Hernandez, 41, of Anaheim was in Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana for a pretrial hearing Tuesday. Hernandez, a pastor at Faith in Action church, faced 20 years in prison and was out on $100,000 bail.

Prosecutors planned to arraign him on additional molestation charges that carried a potential sentence of 15 years to life in prison.

But Hernandez fled before he could be arraigned on the new charges.

“He was in court, he found out about the new charges, and he left,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Susan Kang Schroeder.

When the defendant failed to appear, Superior Court Commissioner Clarence Haynes issued a warrant for his arrest.

Hernandez was collecting money for his escape when a bounty hunter captured him, Schroeder said.

The pastor is being held at Central Men’s Jail in Santa Ana on $2.5-million bail.

Prosecutors plan to charge him with felony failure to appear when he appears in court today for an arraignment and bail hearing.

“I have a feeling his bail will be significantly higher if he’s even allowed bail at all,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Aleta Bryant, who is handling the case.

The victims are either related to him or known through church, Bryant said. Prosecutors allege that the defendant twice molested Jane Doe No. 1, now 16, in 2003.

Hernandez also allegedly molested Jane Doe No. 2, now 21, on three occasions from 1996 to 1998.

He is accused of molesting a boy, who is now 17, seven years ago.